Xcode Summer Expectations

Summer Xcode Preview Expectations

During WWDC Apple announces a number of new features and changes to their platforms, and there is often excitement to test them out and prepare for the public release in the fall.

As every year’s Xcode is unique it is impossible to make ironclad guarantees - however using history as a guide we can at least sketch out what is likely to occur.

Apple’s Release Schedule

• Apple consistently releases the first Xcode x.0 preview (Beta 1) during WWDC which is normally in June.
• Then usually, but not always, every few weeks they will release another beta through the summer.
• As we approach September, the traditional month of final releases, Apple normally releases one or more “GM (Gold Master) Seeds” before releasing the actual final build.

Xamarin SDK Response

Xamarin.iOS and Mac track these builds carefully, and work to quickly bring support to the product. This includes runtime, tooling, and build changes needed to support the new platform and API bindings to all of the additions made.

Many of the most disruptive changes are made in Beta 1, which requires development time from the team to support. Due to this, it often takes until at least Beta 3 for the first preview of the Xamarin SDK to be released (roughly a month from initial preview) in a public preview channel.

All of our work is in done in the open, so those who don’t mind getting their hands dirty (incomplete support, possible bugs) can download packages from our build machines as described here.

Once the first Xamarin preview is out, we’ll track new betas and release updates as the summer proceeds. These updates are roughly every two weeks to a month apart, but it completely depends upon Apple’s cadence. Xcode’s release schedule is not always consistent, and the tooling/APIs are often fluid, breaking throughout the summer.

As we approach the final GM seeds, the changes tend to reduce in size, until the final build itself. Some years Apple adds final changes and additional APIs to be bound in order to support “surprise” features.

The team works to ship these changes to stable Visual Studio / Visual Studio for Mac as soon as possible.